Argentine Ornithology Volume I Part 29

viii. p. 200 (Entrerios); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 606 (Buenos Ayres).

_Description._--Above dark ashy brown, with a slight olivaceous tinge on the rump; head slightly darker, with a more or less concealed white vertical spot; wings and tail blackish brown; tips of wing-coverts, forming two transverse bands, and outer margins of exterior secondaries dirty white; rest of wing-feathers and tail-feathers slightly margined with lighter colour; below nearly uniform pale cinereous, whiter on the throat and middle of the belly; under wing-coverts slightly tinged with yellowish; bill brownish; feet black: whole length 60 inches, wing 32, tail 30.

_Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guiana, Brazil, Argentina, Chili, Patagonia.

A widely spread species, very common near Buenos Ayres according to White, where it is found in the clumps of trees.

153. ELAINEA STREPERA, Cab.

(NOISY TYRANT.)

+Elainea strepera+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1883, p. 215.

_Description._--Above dark greyish olive; head slightly crested, with a white basal spot; eye-ring white; wings and tail blackish, tips of wing-coverts rufous, slight margins of wing and tail-feathers olivaceous; beneath cinereous; middle of belly white; flanks olivaceous; under wing-coverts pale cinereous; bill dark brown, pale at the base; feet blackish: whole length 56 inches, wing 29, tail 27.

_Hab._ Tuc.u.man.

Dr. Cabanis established this species, which is unknown to us, on specimens obtained by Herr Schulz in the woods of Tuc.u.man. It is said to have a loud voice, and to feed on berries.

154. ELAINEA VIRIDICATA (Vieill.).

(GREENISH TYRANT.)

+Muscicapara viridicata+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 325. +Elainea grata+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1883, p. 216 (Tuc.u.man).

_Description._--Above dark olive-green; head dark cinereous, slightly crested, with a large basal spot of bright yellow; lores and eye-region mixed with whitish; wings and tail ashy black, with slight margins of the same colour as the back; below pale cinereous; belly, crissum, and under wing-coverts sulphur-yellow; bill blackish; feet dark brown: whole length 50 inches, wing 25, tail 25. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ South America.

The _Elainea grata_, based by Dr. Cabanis upon specimens obtained by Herr Schulz in Tuc.u.man, must, I think, be identical with Azara's _Contramaestre pardo verdoso, corona amarilla_, upon which Vieillot established his _Sylvia viridicata_. It is certainly, in my opinion, the _Muscicapara viridicata_ of d'Orbigny.

Herr Schulz met with this species in the province of Tuc.u.man, in the month of December.

155. EMPIDAGRA SUIRIRI (Vieill.).

(SUIRIRI TYRANT.)

+Taenioptera suiriri+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 460 (Tuc.u.man).

+Empidagra suiriri+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 49; _iid. P. Z.

S._ 1869, p. 633 (Buenos Ayres); _Cab. J. f. O._ 1878, p. 197.

+Pachyrhamphus albescens+, _Gould, Zool. Beagle_, iii. p. 50, t.

xiv. (Buenos Ayres).

_Description._--Above cinereous; wings and tail blackish, all the wing-coverts and outer secondaries broadly margined externally with white; outer web of outer tail-feathers white; outer edges of primaries and narrow ends of tail-feathers cinereous; below white, under wing-coverts pale yellowish white; bill and feet black: whole length 55 inches, wing 29, tail 25.

_Hab._ Argentine Republic, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia.

This species is stated by Prof. Burmeister to be found in Tuc.u.man and Northern Argentina. It also occurs near Buenos Ayres, where Hudson obtained specimens for the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution.

156. SUBLEGATUS GRISEOCULARIS, Sclater.

(GREY-EYED TYRANT.)

+Sublegatus griseocularis+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1870, p. 17 (Mendoza).

_Description._--Above cinereous; wings and tail dark ashy brown, margins of wing-coverts and outer secondaries whitish; below, throat and breast pale cinereous white; belly and under wing-coverts pale lemon-yellow; bill horn-colour; feet dark brown: whole length 50 inches, wing 28, tail 25. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Southern Peru and Western Argentina.

Specimens of this species were obtained by Weisshaupt near Mendoza.

157. RHYNCHOCYCLUS SULPHURESCENS (Spix).

(SULPHURY TYRANT.)

+Rhynchocyclus sulphurescens+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 49; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 607 (Misiones).

_Description._--Above olive-green, head washed with cinereous; lores and line round the eye whitish; wings blackish brown, margined with yellowish olive; tail dark brown, slightly edged with olive-green; below sulphur-yellow tinged with olivaceous, throat more greyish; middle of the belly rather brighter; under wing-coverts pale sulphur-yellow; bill horn-colour; feet brown: whole length 52 inches, wing 26, tail 25. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ S. America from Northern La Plata to Veragua.

Of this very widely diffused species specimens were obtained by White, in June 1881, in the dense forests of Misiones.

158. PITANGUS BOLIVIa.n.u.s (Lafr.).

(BIENTEVEO TYRANT.)

+Pitangus bellicosus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 50; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 178 (Buenos Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 24 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 607 (Catamarca); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 200 (Entrerios).

+Saurophagus sulphuratus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 452.

_Description._--Above brown; head black; front, superciliaries, and line round the nape white; large vertical crest yellow, tipped with black; wings and tail brown with rufous margins; beneath sulphur-yellow, inner margins of wing- and tail-feathers pale rufous; bill and feet black: whole length 80 inches, wing 42, tail 33. _Female_ similar, but yellow crest not so much developed.

_Hab._ Bolivia, S. Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina.

The Bienteveo is in its habits the most interesting member of the Tyrannine family. It would be difficult to find two species more dissimilar in disposition than are the Silver-bill, already described, and the Bienteveo; the former being like an automaton, having only a few set motions, gestures, and instincts, while the other is versatile in an extraordinary degree, and seems to have studied to advantage the various habits of the Kestrel, Flycatcher, Kingfisher, Vulture, and fruit-eating Thrush; and when its weapons prove weak it supplements them with its running. How strange it is that these two species, mentally as widely separated as the Humming-bird and Crow, should be members of the same family!

The Bienteveo has a wide range in South America, and inhabits the whole of the Argentine country down to Buenos Ayres, where it is very common.

It is resident and lives in pairs, the s.e.xes being always faithful. The body is stout, somewhat large for a Tyrant-bird; the length being nine and a half inches, including the beak, which is a little over an inch in length. The wings are blunt and comparatively short, measuring, when spread, fourteen inches. The head is large, and a broad, black band extends from the beak its entire length, and above this is a pure white stripe; the crown is black, concealing in its loose, abundant feathers a brilliant yellow crest, which shows only when the bird is excited. The upper plumage, including wings and tail, is pale brown; the entire under surface sulphur-yellow. In both s.e.xes the plumage is alike.

In Buenos Ayres the Bienteveo is found in every orchard and plantation: it is familiar with man and invariably greets his approach with loud notes--especially with a powerful three-syllabled cry, in which people fancy there is a resemblance to the words Bien-te-veo ("I see you well"); while its big head and beak, and strongly contrasted colours, especially the black and white head-stripes, seem to give it a wonderfully knowing look, as it turns its head from side to side to examine the intruder. It is a loud-voiced garrulous bird, and has a great range of sounds, from grating screams to long, clear, almost mellow call-notes. It has one pretty habit, which brings out strongly the pleasant feature in its character. Though the male and female are greatly attached, they do not go afield to hunt in company, like the Short-winged Tyrant, but separate to meet again at intervals during the day. One of a couple (say the female) returns to the trees where they are accustomed to meet, and after a time, becoming impatient or anxious at the delay of her consort, utters a very long, clear call-note. He is perhaps a quarter of a mile away, watching for a frog beside a pool, or beating, harrier-like, over a thistle-bed, but he hears the note and presently responds with one of equal power. Then, perhaps, for half an hour, at intervals of half a minute, the birds answer each other, though the powerful call of the one must interfere with his hunting. At length he returns; then the two birds, perched close together, with their yellow bosoms almost touching, crests elevated, and beating the branch with their wings, scream their loudest notes in concert--a confused jubilant noise that rings through the whole plantation. Their joy at meeting is patent, and their action corresponds to the warm embrace of a loving human couple.

I have frequently stood for the s.p.a.ce of half an hour concealed amongst the trees where a Bienteveo was calling to her mate, cheered at intervals by the far-off faint response, for the pleasure of witnessing in the end the joyful reunion of the two birds.